Reality

Apr 25, 2023 — In his second Palme d’Or–winning film, Ruben Östlund uses familiar reality-television tropes to stage a deeply unnerving spectacle of obscene wealth and class outrage.

Feb 17, 2023 — This week: Mike Leigh in the 1980s, a trip to Ghibli Park, and Apichatpong Weerasethakul on virtual reality.

Jul 29, 2021 — As André Bazin put it, Marker created “a new and modern reality based as much on language and words as on the power of the image.”

Feb 24, 2015 — Federico Fellini’s fragmentary and picturesque tale of death and debauchery in ancient Rome is a surreal take on reality.

Nov 17, 2014 — Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable’s effortless banter is pure magic, but Frank Capra’s comedy is rooted in the reality of the times.

May 21, 2013 — It’s tough to tell where reality ends and fiction begins in Haskell Wexler’s deft chronicle of a turbulent era.

Sep 27, 2012 — Franc Roddam, the director of Quadrophenia, got his start working for British television in the seventies, making award-winning films like Mini and Dummy and the fly-on-the-wall series The Family. His other feature films include The Lords of Discipline, The Bride,...

Jun 25, 2012 — For this Edinburgh-based writer and filmmaker, Hitchcock’s Scottish caper is both fantasy and reality.

Aug 30, 2011 — A startling blend of fantasy and reality, Lindsay Anderson’s satirical tale of adolescent rebellion personifies the 1960s.

Call it star-spangled skepticism—these are films that wrestle with the idea and reality of America.